Archive for Business

Five Business Owner Resolutions For A Better 2017

2017 Resolutions for Business Growth

Success! Go get it.

The New Year is the perfect time to reinvent your business. Decide what you want 2017 to look like, then put on your entrepreneurial shoes and get to work! Here are five resolutions you can aspire to in 2017 for a happy and successful business year.

1.) Set an Exciting Goal

As Tim Ferriss puts it in his must-read book “The Four Hour Workweek,” a goal that makes your heart beat faster is easier to achieve than a ho-hum goal. That’s because there’s less competition when you’re doing the impossible and also because an exciting goal comes with a super adrenaline rush that makes you surpass what you thought were your limitations. Can you triple your income this year? Identify the 20% of activities that generate 80% of your results and focus only on that?  Don’t limit it — give yourself permission to call your biggest dreams “goals.”

2.) Write a Marketing Plan

The most frustrating part of being a business owner is the constant need to put out fires. Everything demands your attention, and there are never enough hours in the day. One of the best things you can do is get away from it all and spend a solid, uninterrupted block of time crafting a marketing plan for your business.

Your plan doesn’t need to be perfect. It’s a living document, so expect to make changes throughout the year as you respond to new opportunities and developments in your industry .

3.) Get in Front of Compliance Deadlines

January 1 is when many new regulations take effect. If you aren’t staying up-to-date on your regulatory environment, you’re playing with fire.

Take a look at the new regulations that may affect your business. Consult with your compliance personnel or attorney to figure out the steps you need to take to keep your company updated.

4.) Trim the Fat

Is there a person in your organization who isn’t working out? Technology that takes more time than it’s worth? If it’s not an asset to your business, it’s holding you back.

It’s never fun to be the bad guy, but as a business owner, it’s your responsibility to see to it that your team is doing what needs to be done and productivity and morale are high.

5.) Keep Learning and Growing

With so much on your plate, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day responsibilities of working both in and on your business. Make 2017 the year you invest in your own knowledge by resolving to read one new business book a month. Make a list of websites, blogs and publications you’d like to read regularly. Revisit classic business books, or ask others for recommendations.

Close the books and learn from the experiences. 2017 is up next and it’s up to you to make it the best year ever. Bring on the challenges and rewards of another New Year! What New Year’s resolutions will help your business thrive?

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Job Security: Four Practical Ideas For Making Yourself Indispensable

Job security can do wonders for your morale and your peace of mind.

Unfortunately, 40% of Americans fear they will lose their jobs in the next 12 months, according to a Pew study.

That’s bad news both for companies and their employees. Workers who worry about their job security are less likely to be effective. It”s exhausting to worry about your job constantly, and when you’re exhausted, your work suffers.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to improve your position at work. Try these four ideas to boost your value to your employer!

1.) Become an expert

coffee cup on desk with computers

Photo Credit: Pixabay http://ow.ly/W0S0305jgWZ

Offer specific knowledge that no one else can. Become the go-to person in one essential area.

Learning everything about one of your company’s biggest clients, or every facet of a popular product or service, can give you a strong advantage. Being an expert in a field that fits into every part of your company is a great way to make yourself indispensable.

When choosing an area for skills development, try to focus on business segments that are growing. Look for places where there’s new hiring or promotions. Those represent the future of the company, and you want to be right there in the thick of it.

2.) Help others

Help others because you’re a team player, not because you’re expecting them to turn around and help you again. This positive attitude is another strong asset that will stick in the minds of managers making tough personnel choices.

When it comes time for companies to make tough decisions about who to keep, they often look for flexible people. Downsizing is easier if you’ve got people who can easily flip between job functions. Helping others deal with their workloads can demonstrate that kind of flexibility. In the worst case scenario, having one more person calling you indispensable because you’re always there to help them can only benefit your job security.

3.) Master a system

New technology is often the bane of businesses. When importing a new system, piece of equipment or software tool, it takes time to train employees to use it. Worse yet, if no one knows how to use it, the considerable capital expense invested in it is basically wasted.

You can help prevent that waste by learning a system better than anyone else. Become the resource person for a piece of technology that’s instrumental to your business. It could be a data entry system, a new machine or a network resource. That puts another tangible value behind your attachment to the company: The machine or system is useless for the time it would take to train someone new.

4.) Develop your soft skills

New people can be trained in just about anything, and they might be able to do it better than you. Younger workers may be willing to do the same work for a lower salary, or have more recent knowledge about an industry. What they don’t have is an integration in company culture that makes work easier. You can develop that integration by working on the “people skills” that help the workplace function.

This could be as basic as knowing names and building relationships in other departments, or as involved as taking a course in interpersonal communication. Become the co-worker everyone wants to work with. While you still need to keep your job-specific knowledge up-to-date, maintaining relationships with your colleagues and clients is just as important.

SOURCES:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2016/02/15/bulletproof-your-position-10-tips-for-improving-job-security/2/#bae83e338e7f 
http://www.ioatwork.com/when-does-job-security-affect-job-performance/ 
http://work.chron.com/job-security-influences-job-satisfaction-performance-30781.html 
http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2016/10/06/the-state-of-american-jobs/

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